The term means “openness” and was the name for the social and political reforms to bestow more rights and freedoms upon the soviet people. its goals were to include more people in the political process through freedom of expression. this led to a decreased censoring of the media, which in effect allowed writers and journalists to expose news of government corruption and the depressed condition of the soviet people. also permitted criticism of government officials, encouraging more social freedoms like those that western societies had already provided.